Salem Harbor Power Station to Close Two Units This Month
19 jobs will be lost as a result.
Salem Harbor Power Station will close completely in 2014, but the first steps toward that closure will begin this month, the Salem News reports.
Dan Genest of Dominion told the newspaper two of the units will be eliminated this month.
The reduction will also result in the elimination of 19 jobs.
The City of Salem is currently investigating possible usage options for the facility and recently announced the plant will pay $3 million less in taxes on the facility and 62-acre property in 2012 than the $4.75 million it had been paying previously.
The state did agree to make up for the lack of tax base from the plant for five years as a result of a measure pushed through by Rep. John Keenan and state Sen. Fred Berry.
john
3:28 pm on Monday, December 19, 2011
I just watched a report on FOX that said more than 30 coal plants are going to close due to EPA regulations. In addition the report stated that the US has more coal than any other country in the world. I am puzzled by the fact that coal ships that deliver coal to the Salem plant are coming from foreign countries.
windpower
5:48 pm on Monday, December 19, 2011
The coal delivered to Salem station is supposed to be lower in sulfer . It come from central america . Plus I think we make more $$ selling USA coal to China .
Dominion simply refused to invest in Salem because it it to small and the turbines are very inefficent .
john
7:42 pm on Monday, December 19, 2011
The same report also stated that next year we will be exporting more oil than we import. oil is the answer to all of our problems so why have we waited so long to use our own? I also have read that the US has more oil than the entire Middle East. Is the price of fuel in this country a scam by us against us?
Jack Carver
8:48 pm on Monday, December 19, 2011
Just to be clear even if they closed all 3 coal fired units, Unit 4 using oil produces more power then all 3 coal units. Unit 4 does meet EPA limits
Unit 1 produces 82 megawatts
Unit 2 produces 80 MW,
Unit 3 produces 150 MW.
OIL FIRED Unit 4 produces 433 MW.
Jack Carver
8:54 pm on Monday, December 19, 2011
From the Dominion web site,
Salem Harbor Power Station is operated in compliance with strict Massachusetts environmental regulations (which are among the most stringent regulations in the country) through switching to coal that has low sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides emissions rates and by using low-sulfur oil. It also installed systems that allow the station to handle and store the new coal.
The continued use of low-emission coal will allow Salem Harbor to continue to meet Massachusetts’s strict air emissions standards. Dominion plans to test other measures that will place the units in compliance with mercury emission limits of 95 percent beginning in October 2012.
john
9:36 pm on Monday, December 19, 2011
How is the tax break justified?
windpower
7:44 am on Tuesday, December 20, 2011
As Jack points out ,the oil fired unit is 433 mw and meets regs .
It is used as a back up for the grid ,and Dominion gets big bucks to have it sit ,ready to go .Some say $20 t0 $25 million a year .
You can bet they will keep that cash cow there ,so ,I doubt we will see all of the oil tanks go and at least part of the building will stay .